MATTHIOLA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



MECONOPSIS 



68i 



boxes, in a gentle heat, and, as soon as 

 the plants can be handled without injury, 

 they should be transplanted to other pans 

 or boxes and grown on quickly, care being 

 taken not to draw them so as to make 

 them lanky. There are various places 

 in most gardens where a bed or patches 

 of Stocks might be grown with advantage, 

 and, given good rich soil, they will amply 

 reward the grower. The German growers 

 have a formidable list of kinds, many of 

 which are more curious than showy. 

 There are, however, sufficient good colours 

 among them, such as crimson, rose, purple, 

 violet, and white, to yield distinct hues. 

 There is a strain of English-selected 

 Stocks, known as Pyramidal, which are 

 of tall growth, and remarkable for their 

 iarge pyramids of flowers, and there is a 

 very distinct type known as Wallflower- 

 leaved, which was introduced many years 

 ago from the Grecian Archipelago, and 

 which has shining deep-green leaves, not 

 unlike a Wallflower. In all other respects 

 the type is like the ordinary German 

 Stock. One of the finest varieties of this 

 type, and one of the most beautiful Stocks 

 in cultivation, is known as Mauve Beauty. 

 It has huge heads of pale, lustrous, mauve- 

 coloured flowers. The culture for the 

 Ten-week Stock will answer for this. The 

 autumn-flowering strain is very desirable, as 

 the plants succeed the German varieties, 

 and so prolong the season. 



Intermediate Stocks may be sown 

 either in July or August, to stand the 

 winter and flower early in the spring, or 

 in March, to flower in the following 

 autumn. The strain is dwarf and bushy, 

 and very free-blooming, and the varieties 

 may be said to be confined to scarlet, purple, 

 and white. There is a strain grown in 

 Scotland under the name of the East 

 Lothian Intermediate Stock, and much 

 used there for beds and borders, the 

 climate exactly suiting it for late summer 

 blooming. It is sown in the usual way 

 about the end of March, planted out at 

 the end of May when 3 or 4 in. high, and 

 blooms finely through August and Sep- 

 tember, and even later, as the numerous 

 side shoots give spikes of flowers. Thus, 

 by using the autumn-sown Intermediate 

 Stocks for early blooming, the ordinary 

 large flowering German Ten-week Stock 

 for summer flowering, and the later East 

 Lothian Intermediate Stock for late sum- 

 mer, S cocks can be had in flower for eight 

 or nine months of the year without inter- 

 mission. 



Biennial Stocks comprise the Bromp- 

 ton and the Queen, and they should be 

 sown in June and July to flower in the 



following spring or summer. They are 

 closely allied, and are probably only 

 varieties of the same kind ; but the seed 

 of the white Brompton is pale in colour 

 whilst that of the Queen is quite dark. 

 Old growers of the Stock assert that while 

 the under side of the leaf of the Queen 

 Stock is rough and woolly, the leaf of the 

 Brompton Stock is smooth on both sides. 

 Of the Queen Stock there are three colours 

 — purple, scarlet, and white ; and of the 

 Brompton Stock the same, with the 

 addition of a selected crimson variety of 

 great beauty, but somewhat difficult to 

 perpetuate. Both types are really 

 biennials. The seed should be sown at 

 the end of July in beds, and the plants 

 transplanted to the open ground in the 

 autumn. The difficulty of wintering the 

 Brompton Stocks deters many from 

 attempting their cultivation, and many die, 

 even in a mild winter. A well-drained 

 subsoil with a porous surface soil suits 

 them best, and shelter from hard frost and 

 nipping winds is of great service. A 

 second transplantation of the seedlings 

 about December has been tried with 

 success. 



MAURANDIA.— An elegant Mexican 

 twining plant, M. barclayana is often grown 

 in the greenhouse, but hardy enough for 

 the open air in summer, and admirably 

 suited for covering trellises. The deep 

 violet flowers are very showy, and there 

 are also white (alba), deep purple (atropur- 

 purea), and rosy-purple (rosea) varieties. 

 Easily raised from seed sown in early spring 

 in heat ; they will flower in the following 

 summer if planted out in May in good soil 

 and sheltered situations. 



MAZUS.— J/.//cw///^ is a distinct New 

 Zealand plant, vigorous, and creeping 

 underground so as rapidly to form dense 

 tufts, rarely more than \ in. high ; the 

 pale violet flowers are borne on very short 

 stems in early summer, and the leaves lie 

 flat on the soil. M. Pumilio thrives in 

 pots, cold frames, or the open air, and 

 does best in firm, open, bare spots in the 

 rock-garden, in warm positions in free 

 sandy soil. Though not showy, it is an 

 interesting plant, easily increased by 

 division. Figwort family. 



MECONOPSIS {Iiidian Poppy). — 

 Handsome Poppyworts, the most familiar 

 of which is the common Welsh Poppy 

 (M. cambrica ) ; the other kinds are natives 

 of the Himalayas, hardy, but only of 

 biennial duration. They may be easily 

 raised from seed sown in spring ; and, 

 indeed, a good stock of strong plants can 

 be ensured only by annual sowings. The 

 following is the most successful mode of 



